Damascus, Syria, and Cilicia

Paul's life falls naturally into four periods: (1) The years before the conversion; (2) seventeen years of quiet labor in Damascus, Syria, and Cilicia; (3) seven years of world mission; (4) five years of imprisonment. These last years may have been followed by a brief period of liberty and a second imprisonment, but of this we cannot be certain. The third period is the only one of which we have any detailed knowledge. Fortunately, these are the years of Paul's great achievements, where it is most important for us to know.

We have two sources of knowledge for our study of Paul's work—his letters and the book of Acts. These accounts supplement each other. Acts gives an outline of Paul's life, and connects this with the growth of the church as a whole. But we learn very little from Acts about the real life of the Pauline churches. Because Luke is describing the spread of the church, he tells simply how the churches were founded. The letters, on the other hand, tell us how these churches grew, what their life was, and how the new religion met the many questions that confronted it in the Roman world. Where Luke and Paul differ, we must follow the latter; for Paul writes of what he knows at first hand, while Luke is largely dependent upon others and writes at a much later period. There are three places in which such differences may appear: (1) Luke emphasizes the part played by the Jerusalem church, and her authority and supervision. Paul's letters show how the great Gentile church grew up apart from the founding or direction of the Jerusalem leaders. (2) Luke is inclined to emphasize the idea of harmony. The letters reveal the conflict that shook the church in the first generation: whether Christianity was to be a world faith and a religion of the spirit, or a Jewish sect and a religion of the law. (3) Occasionally there seems to be a difference in order of events. Paul, for example, declares that he went up to Jerusalem at the close of the fourteen years in Syria and Cilicia, and that he had his conference with the apostles at this time. Luke places this conference after the first missionary journey.

The first three years of this period Paul spent in Damascus. Through Ananias, he came in touch with the disciples there and probably began preaching at once. His work ends with a persecution, the first in the long list that he was to suffer. Instigated by the Jews, the governor tried to seize him, and Paul escaped only by sudden and secret flight (2 Cor 11:32, 33; Acts 9:23-25).

Then follows Paul's first visit to Jerusalem since his conversion (Gal 1:18-23). Despite Acts 9:26-30, we must accept Paul's statement here, that he did not take up any public work or come before the church as a whole. He spent two weeks in quiet with Peter, meeting only James in addition. Beyond doubt he laid before Peter his own work and his conception of the gospel, and this can hardly have been without influence upon the latter. Peter had something to give Paul in return. True, Paul emphatically asserts his independence of the Jerusalem apostles so far as his gospel is concerned; but that does not mean that Paul would not welcome eagerly what Peter could tell him as to the life of Jesus, and especially his teachings. Paul's gospel was not dependent upon such details, but his letters show that he was not indifferent to them. The story of the suffering and death of Jesus would be of especial interest, and this he used in his preaching (Gal 3:1). He mentions other facts about the life of Jesus in his letters. Probably in his preaching to Gentiles in particular he would narrate the outline of Jesus' life. More important than this is the remarkable insight into the inner spirit of Jesus, his love and patience and humility, which Paul shows even in passages where the name of Jesus is not mentioned, such as 1 Cor 13. Besides this Paul would be interested in the teachings of Jesus. A word of Jesus stood for Paul beside the Old Testament as a word of authority. He must have welcomed, therefore, all that Peter could tell him from his rich memories of personal intercourse with Jesus.

Fourteen years follow of which we know equally little. During all this time Paul tells us that he kept away from Jerusalem, working in Syria and Cilicia. The latter was his home province and it was natural that he should go back to Tarsus to begin. The center of the Syrian territory was Antioch. It was a great city, ranking next to Rome and Alexandria in importance. Here East and West met and all nations were found mingled together, including many Jews. It was a commercial center of first rank. In these respects it resembled Corinth and Ephesus, like them joining to its wealth great luxury and profligacy. It is significant for Paul's work, that just as Antioch became his center now, so for the last period of his work Corinth and Ephesus were his headquarters. To Antioch Paul comes upon invitation of Barnabas.

Paul's plan of work during these fourteen years was probably not very different from that of the seven years that follow. He did not simply remain in the cities, but, making Tarsus and Antioch his centers, traveled up and down the coast and through the surrounding regions. We have one passage from his own hand which probably refers at least in part to this period. In it he gives a moving picture of his life of unremitting toil, of hardship and constant danger, as he goes from place to place planting his little communities of disciples and watching over them. The experiences of sea and shipwreck may well have come in this time, as much of his travel would naturally be by vessel. "Are they ministers of Christ? (I speak as one beside himself) I more; in labors more abundantly, in prisons more abundantly, in stripes above measure, in deaths oft. Of the Jews five times received I forty stripes save one. Thrice was I beaten with rods, once was I stoned, thrice I suffered shipwreck, a night and a day have I been in the deep; in journeyings often, in perils of rivers, in perils of robbers, in perils from my countrymen, in perils from the Gentiles, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren; in labor and travail, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness. Besides those things that are without, there is that which presseth upon me daily, anxiety for all the churches. Who is weak, and I am not weak? who is caused to stumble, and I burn not?" (2 Cor 11:23-29).

We have called these years the time of quiet labor. They were, however, by no means lacking in importance. In two respects they were of the greatest significance for Paul's work. (1) Paul himself was being trained for his great position of responsibility and leadership. He was a young man when he began; he was a tried veteran when he concluded. These years of work and thought showed him the wealth of the Christian religion, and ripened in him those thoughts with which his later letters are filled. (2) Paul was firmly establishing a strong Gentile church, and was doing this on a basis of freedom from the Jewish law. When he went up to Jerusalem at the end of these years the Gentile church was already a fact, and the mother church could do no less than recognize it.

A chronological outline of Paul's life may be added here. These dates are only approximate, and vary somewhat with different scholars. Paul was probably born about the same time as Jesus, and was converted from two to five years after Jesus' death.

1. Period of youth and preparation.
2. Seventeen years of quiet work, 35 to 52.
   1. At Damascus, three years.
   2. In Cilicia and Syria, with headquarters at Tarsus and Antioch, fourteen years.
3. The missionary journeys, 52 to 59.
   1. A brief journey through Cyprus and Galatia.
   2. Work in Macedonia and Achaia, with headquarters at Corinth for one and a half years.
   3. Work in Asia with headquarters at Ephesus for two years.
4. The years of imprisonment, 59 to 64.
   1. At Cæsarea, two years.
   2. On the way to Rome, one year.
   3. In Rome, two years.

Directions for Reading and Study

Read Gal 1:15-23; Acts 11:19-26; 2 Cor II. 23-29. Trace upon the map the journeys so far referred to: Jerusalem to Damascus and return, Jerusalem to Tarsus, Tarsus to Antioch.